We have now been informed by the Circle General Secretary, ITEF Karnataka Circle that the Joint Council of Action of Karnataka has decided to organize campaign meetings in all the buildings located at Bangalore.This programme will commence on 5th April, 2010 and would culminate on 9th April, 2010with a massive meeting and demonstration in which all the employees and officers working in Bangalore City are expected to participate.As per the decision taken by the CWC, as and when the agitational programmes are chalked out by the JCA, Karnataka, the other Circles of ITEF are to call upon their members to organize solidarity programme of action.

We may, therefore, request you to kindly get in touch with the Office bearers of the ITGOA in your circle and explore the possibility of organizing programme of action in support of the agitating comrades of Karnataka.Our suggestion is to organize a massive demonstration on 9thApril, 2010during lunch recess in all State capital either under the auspices of the JCA or under the banner of ITEF.

The CWC meeting of the Federation was held at Manishinath Bhawan, on 13th inst.We would be issuing detailed minutes of the deliberations at the meeting later.In this communication, we convey the decisions taken at the meeting on various agenda items slated for deliberation.

Agenda No.1. Confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting held at Daman.

The minutes circulated were considered by the house and confirmed.

Agenda No.2. Outcome of Discussion with the DG (HRD) and future course of action thereon.

The Sectt. had submitted a detailed note on the discussions the representatives of the ITEF had with the DG (HRD) on issues emanating from the 6th CPC report. The note was taken up for deliberation item wise.The decisions taken by the house on the Note are as under:- Copy of the Note is enclosed for reference.

Item No. 4. Group D Cadre.It was decided that the Directorate must be asked to rework the requirement of Care Taking Staff (i.e. Farrash, Mali, Watchmen etc) on the basis of the area of space occupied by the Department for housing its officers throughout the country.As the requirement for Group D staff other than care taking staff has been computed on functional requirement in the Cadre Review Proposal.Till such time, the Cadre Review proposal is accepted and implemented the existing vacancies will have to be filled up.Since the ban has been lifted, this issue must be taken up by all Circle General Secretaries with the respective CCITs (CCA).The CWC asked the Secretariat to cause a detailed discussion of the manner in which the work pertaining to care taking staff in the light of the acute shortage in a committee consisting of the Circle General Secretaries of the Metro Cities, viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and arrive at conclusions to be strictly followed by all Circles.It is brought to the notice of the house that engaging daily rated workers to carry on the jobs of the Care taking staff has been asked to be halted by the Board to be replaced with contractor workers.In respect of other Group D functions,it was decided that in no event contractorisation of the work to be permitted as has been decided by the Confederation of CGE and workers.

Item No. 5. Staff Car Drivers.The condition of Matriculation being the essential qualification for switching over to the mainstream cadres was not approved by the house.The proposal was asked to be modified to this extent.The contention made in the house was that most of the senior Staff Car Drivers recruited decades back were not possessing the said qualification and it should not be right to insist upon this as a pre condition for their being repatriated to the mainstream cadres.The house has also suggested that the words appearing in the Note "Ministerial Staff Examination" be changed to "appropriate Examination" in view of the changes mooted in the Examination rules.

Notes on Item Nos. 6,7 and 8 pertaining to the cadres of Notice Servers, Stenographers, Data Processing Assistants were accepted without any change.

Item No. 9. Examination system.The house decided that the Secretariat should amend the scheme as under before it is submitted to the Directorate.

The Examination will have to be in three parts as under:

(a)Part I. consisting of two Papers, Précis writing and drafting and Service Rules.

(c)Part III consisting of three papers i.e Income tax Law (Theory), Income tax Law ( Practical with books) and Allied Laws (Theory).

The Notes on future Recruitment rules and career prospects were accepted without any change.

Agenda Item No.3.& 4

Review of the progress registered in the charter of demands after the withdrawal of the strike action and further course of action.

(i)Mobile Phone facility to all employees.The Secretary General informed the house that the scheme has been worked out in agreement with the BSNL and the same has been approved by the Board.Certain objections raised by the FA is being replied and the same after their consentwould go to the Committee of Secretaries and the Finance Minister for their approval. The Chairman has informed us that since the proposal is a zero financial liability, it is likely that the same would be getting approval of the Government soon.

(ii)On the question of outsourcing with reference to the return processing work through CPU in Bangalore, the Secretary General informed the house that till recently the Department was not able to implement their proposal.However, in the last week, the work has been commenced through the new vendor Infosys and so far the Board has not honoured its commitment to cause negotiation in the matter in the light of the earlier agreement with the two Federations.In a meeting with the Chairman, the issue was raised again.The Chairman has assured that the promised meeting would be held in the 2nd week of April, preferably at Bangalore.The house discussed the issue in detail with the input provided by the Circle President, Karanataka.It was decided that the discussion with the Board should be held without much loss of time and if not, chalk out immediate action programme.The Karnataka Unit was asked to explore the possibility of commencing some programme at local level to give impetus to the proposed meeting with the Board in the matter Intervening in the discussions, the Circle General Secretary Karnataka suggested to have simultaneous demonstration programme throughout the country, when the Karnataka comrades would be agitating in front of the CPU Offices.Com. President and Secretary General would be leading the demonstration at Bangalore as and when the decision is finalized by the Karnataka Unit. The Secretariat was asked to meet immediately thereafter to take appropriate decision.

(iii)In the matter of outsourcing of the caretaking and other functions, the house after deliberation decided to set up a committee to look into the matter and suggest concrete steps to stop such unethical actions on the part of the Department. The Committee was asked to deliberate upon the issue in its entire gamut and come up with suggestions for formulating action programmes.Thehouse decided the following composition of the Committee.

The Committee was asked to meet on 14th inst. and finalise their proposal in view of the urgency in the matter.

(iv)Additional Increment for passing the Departmental Examination.The Secretary General informed the house that the Board has ultimately resolved the issue by passing an order stating that the scheme would continue since the 6th CPC has not made any recommendation for its discontinuance.He also informed the house that the Principal Controller of Accounts, CBDT has also issued consequent orders which would be binding on all Zonal Accounts Officers and therefore, this matter should be treated as satisfactorily settled.The orders, he added, have been placed on the ITEF website.

Agenda Item No. 5. Organisational Review.

(a)The outstanding on account of renewal fees would be worked out on the basis of the revised working strength intimated by the concerned Circle General Secretaries at the meeting.

(b)The complaints made by the Circle General Secretary, A.P on the functioning of the Chairman, Disciplinary Committee and those referred to by the Circle General Secretary, Gujarat in respect of the reinstatement of Com. Pankaj Saxena and the appointment of Com. Francis as member of the Disciplinary Committee were briefly discussed.The House asked the Secretary General and President to discuss these issues with the concerned comrades in the presence of the Members of the Advisory Committee to find solutions.

(c)Filling up the vacancies in the Secretariat by co-option was again raised in the house with a suggestionthat Delhi being totally notrepresented in the Secretariat one comrade from that Circle should be nominated.Com. Vijay Singh Negi responding to the sentiments expressed in this regard by almost all the members said that the Secretariat must explore the possibility of upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary to enable the Executive Committee of ITEF Delhi Circle to consider this matter.

(d)On the question of merger of ITEF Group D Circles with the ITEF Group C Circle in view of the decision of the Government to upgrade all Group D posts as Group C, the house caused discussion in which several comrades participated.At the end of the discussion, the Secretary General requested the concerned circles to have mutual discussions in the matter to explore the possibilities of an eventual merger of these two organizations as in the years to come, separate entities would be a difficult proposition.The ITEF would be able to take a decision in the matter only at the next conference for what is required is a structural change.He emphasized the need for a mutual understanding on this issue and requested the ITEF Group D Circle that they have the time limit upto the next conference to come to a conclusion in the matter,.

(e)Responding to the functioning of the ITEF CHQ, the Secretary General informed the house that he would be coming on Foreign Service as and when the sanction from the Government is obtained. The letter seeking the foreign service facility has been sent to the Govt.

Agenda Item No. 6. Any other matter with the permission of the Chair.

The Secretary General informed the house that the ITEF has been informed by the DG(Admn) that the results of the Inspectors and Officers examination would be finalized by end of March, 2010.All pending cases where zero marks were awarded and show cause notices issued would be disposed of before the results of the above stated examination are announced.He also informed the house that the ITEF has requested the DG to have relaxation in the standard of evaluation of answer books who had written the examination as a last chance especially in the case of those who had been left with only one paper to clear. He further stated that the ITEF has suggested to have the Ministerial Staff Examination in the month of June 2010, since almost all charges have declared the result of Examination 2009.

Several other issues were raised by the members which were clarified by Com. President and Secretary General, the details of which will form part of the minutes which is under preparation.

As intimated to you, the question of grant of Advance increment for passing the Departmental Examination was taken up with the Chairman, CBDT, when the undersigned met him on 4th March, 2010.He had assured to resolve this issue within a week’s time.The Board has now issued the order, the copy of which is scanned and placed hereunder, according to which the advance increments would continue to be granted for all those who pass the Departmental Examinations as is indicated in F.No.1-11020/47/2007- Ad-IX dated 09.09.2009.Consequent to the issuance of the said order, the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, CBDT vide their letter No. PCCA/CBDT/CDN-I/Advance injcrement/2009-10 3518-48 dated 12/03/2010 has directed all Zonal Accounts Officer to act upon the said direction of the Board.The copy of the letter of Principal Chief Controller of Accounts is also placed hereunder.

As intimated to you earlier (through sms) the meeting with the Health Secretary was to be held on 3rd March, 2010.Since the Health Secretary was engaged otherwise, the meeting was chaired by the Joint Secretary in charge of the affairs of the CGHS.The following staff side members attended the meeting.

1. Com. U.M. Purohit:Secretary Staff Side,

2. Com. S.K. VyasMember, Staff Side.

3. Com. Shivgopal Misra.Member, Staff Side.

4. Com. K.K.N. KuttyMember, Staff Side,

5. Com. Guman SinghMember, Staff Side.

6. Com. M.S. RajaMember, Staff side.

At the outset the Staff Side pointed out the inordinate delay in holding the meeting. The last meeting was held on 4.08.2008.The Action taken statement( which was incomplete) on the minutes of the said meeting was only circulated at the meeting on 3rd March, 2010.The official side agreed to circulate a comprehensive action taken statement within a few days.It was also assured that the next meeting would be held within the next three months.The Official side also circulated a copy of the document containing the salient features of Central Government Employees and pensioners Health Insurance Scheme.

It was decided that Action taken statement would be discussed on the basis of the minutes of the last meeting.Accordingly the following points were discussed.

1.Computerization of the functions of CGHS dispensaries and related problems.. The official side stated that the functions of all dispensaries in Delhi have been computerized.The problems faced by the beneficiaries have been sorted out.In other cities, the work has been undertaken and is at various stages.There would be some problem in the initial stages.This would be resolved as has been done in the case of Delhi Dispensaries.

2.Plastic Cards.In the case of 60% beneficiaries the cards have been issued in Delhi.The other 40% constitute the non receipt of application or mismatch with the names and photos.The official side agreed to place in the notice board of each dispensaries, the names of those whose cards are prepared but not collected.It was also informed by the official side, that after a certain period, the CGHS would lock the operation of the cards and the beneficiaries would have to approach the CGHS authorities for getting the cards and activate the same.The Plastic cards would enable the beneficiaries to go to any dispensary and get the OPD treatment.

3.Claims adalat. The system of holding claims adalat has been commenced in Delhi. This would be extended to other CGHS cities after the trial run in Delhi. The Staff Side pointed out the inordinate delay in processing the claim in the Health Ministry where their approval is required under the rules.They also brought to the notice of the official side of the sad death of a beneficiary who did not get the advance sanctioned for getting admitted in the Hospital. They gave copies of the various representations received from different cities where the decision from the Health Ministry was pending for quite some time.The official side stated that in all such matters, the discretion of the Health Ministry has been taken out and a technical committee has been constituted to consider those claims and give a final decision within a month's time.

4.Meeting of the Local Advisory Committee in each dispensary.This is being held in each month.The Staff Side suggested that a meeting with the concerned Additional Director CGHS once in six months should be arranged so that the problems not settled in the local dispensary meeting could be addressed.

5.Recognition of Hospitals.The official side stated that the proposal to prescribe the floor minimum for in patient treatment for various diseases on the basis of the cost factor has not been found favour with the Govt.It has been decided that the rates and recognition of hospitals would be decided on the basis of the receipt of tenders.The tender for 2009 has already been floated.There would be two different types of recognized hospitals. Viz. Super-specialty hospitals and hospital for general diseases. The list of recognized hospitals in various cities and the rate structure would be furnished to each member of the Staff Side National Council.

6.The suggestion of the Staff Side to engage Specialist Doctorson contract basis till such time regular appointments are made have been accepted and acted upon.The orders are stated to be under issue of posting the specialist doctors. Their placement list would be supplied to the Staff Side.

7.The official side stated that wherever the dispensaries are computerized, instructions have been issued to the Doctors in charge to telephonically get in touch with the beneficiaries above the age of 80 years once in a month.

8.Opening Ayush Dispensaries.The official side stated that the department is exploring the possibilities.

9.Local purchase of Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medicines. List of approved firms have been circulated to all CGHS dispensaries.

10.Credit facilities to Pensioners in private recognized hospitals. In the case of Hyderabad, the problem has arisen due to the court order in favour of the recognized hospitals. The Court is expected to give a final decision before summer vacation as directed by the Supreme Court.So this problem would be resolved soon.

11.Extension of CGHS facilities to P & T pensioners.It was informed by the Official Side that the Committee of Secretaries have agreed to take P & T Dispensaries in CGHS Cities only.The benefit of CGHS would be extended to those employees working in the CGHS cities.Unlike in the case of other CG employees, the P & T pensioners would be getting the CGHS benefit only if they retire from the CGHS citifies, since the matter is sub-judice.

12.Revision of fixed medical allowance.The proposal to revise the fixed medical allowance to Rs. 500 plus DA thereon is pending before the Department of Expenditure

13.Revision of dependency criterion at Rs.1500 p.m. to be effective from 1.1.1996. The matter has been referred to the Committee of Secretaries and the same is pending before them.The Official side agreed to expedite the matter.

14.The official side agreed to put on their websitethe copy of the order as and when the patient care allowance is decided to be extended beyond 31.3.2010.

15.The official side wanted some more time to finalize the demand to extend the CGHS facilities to the Divisional Accountants.

16.Dispensary in Wadi area Nagpur. It was decided that the Deputy Secretary would be deputed to visit the area and staff side has agreed to provide the contact number of the local representatives to assist him.

17.Inclusion ofresidents of Suburban area of Mumbai City. The official side stated that the dispensaries of Matunga would be merged with Mahim dispensary and Goregaon dispensary has been closed and Charkop has been merged with Kandivli.The staff side demanded that the doctors and staff that had become available due to the merger and closure dispensaries must be utilized for opening dispensary to cater to the requirements of beneficiaries residing in Thane and other suburban area. This was agreed to.

18.Health screening of CGHS beneficiaries.Staff Side pointed out that the orders issued in 2007 has not yet been implemented in respect of beneficiaries belonging to Group B C & D employees.The official side informed that as an experimental measure routine health check up of CGHS beneficiaries about 40 years of age has been started in south zone of CGHSDelhi with effect from 24.2.2010.

20.The exorbitant increase in the rate of subscription of CGHS amounting to almost 300% was raised by the Staff Side.The official side pointed out that on all previous occasions, the rate had been increased by 300%. And any discussion in the matter should be held in the National Council.

To our SMS some State Committees and others have responded.Whatever communications we have received in this regard have been gone through.The issues raised are being compiled.It has been decided to send these issues for the consideration of the Committee in the next meeting. Similarly the Staff Side has also handed over a list of items taken up by the Confederationthrough correspondence. These items would be discussed in the next meeting.